Disk wheel



'W. E. WILLIAMS..

' DISK WHEEL.

, APPLICAHON FILED JUNE 23' I921.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

f I I 1 m /Mmww WILLIAM ERASTUS WILLIAMS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DISK WHEEL.

Application filed June 23,

To all whom it may concern 7 Be it known that I, VVILLIAM ERASTUS WILLIAMS, a citizen of the United States, a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Disk \Vheels, of

which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to automobile wheels that are made of pressed metal and that type of wheel which demounts the disk in a quick change of tires, instead of demounting the rim as has heretofore been the practice.

Theobject of the invention is to provide the cheapest and most serviceable wheel possible and one in which the disk may be easily detached and aflixed to hubs of the typp used with wheels having wooden spokes.

eference will be had to the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a front elevation of the Wheel.

Figure '2 is a transverse sectional view on a larger scale than that of Figure 1.

Figure 3 shows a section on line 33 of Figure 1, indicating the valve opening.

Figure 4 is a sectional detail on line 4- 1 of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is an alternative construction showing a variation in the disk fastening to the rim from that shown in Figure 4.

Figure 6 is a modified form of the fastening of the disk at the hub.

Figure 7 is still another modified form of the disk fastening at the hub.

Figure 8 is a sectional detail for a short distance around the hub on the circle indicated by the arrow an? I In the drawingl indicates the ordinary clincher rim and 2 indicates the ordinary hub used with the wooden wheel which is provided with the hub flange 3 integral with the-hub and to this hub flange 3 the ordinary brake drum 4 is attached.

I provide what I term a hub zone flange indicated by 5 which is considerably larger in diameter than the hub flange 3. This hub zoneflange 5' is turned over into a bearing flange 6 on to the hubbarrel 7 and is pressed outwardly to form an annular r1b 8 which furnishes a seat 9 for the mam supporting disk of the wheel.

' v The rib 8 is interrupted at four difi'erent points by a stifl'ening depression or corrugation 10 which extends only for a short distance as indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 1. This hub zone flange terminates Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. '7, 1922.

1921. Serial No. 479,946.

in an inclined flange 11 which also furnishes a seat for the main disk. The main disk is indicated by 12 and has a bearing surface 13 which rides on the surface 9 of the hub zone flange and it also has an inclined surface 14 which rides on the inclined margin 11 of the hub zone flange o. The hub zone'flange 5 1s secured to the flange 3 of the hub by a series of-bolts 15. The main disk 12 is here shown as being curved inward as indicated by 16 in the zone outside of the hub zone flange and it extends out and simulates in appearance the front face of the felloe in the marginal region 17, and from this zone 17 the edge of the disk is turned over into the tread seat flange 18..

The rim 1 is of the clincher type as here shown and it is provided with an internally extending bead 19 pressed inwardly from the flat stock of the rim. However, in some instances this feature is a rolled integral head or tire seat instead of an embossed rib asindicated by 19. The main disk 12 is secured to the'hu'b zone disk 5 by means of screws 20 engaging nuts 21 secured to the hub zone disk by some small flanges 22 and by rivets 23 to the hub zone disk I The main disk is shown in Figures 2 and 7 as extending downward and terminating near the hub barrel in a little flange 24 and the hub zone of this part of the disk is here shown in the said Figures 2 and 7 as being stiffened by a rib 25, but this form of the disk is optional. The preferred form is indicated by Figure 7 wherein the disk 12 isturned over and terminates on the diameter indicated by 26 (see Figures 1 and 6). In the case of Figures 2 and 7 the hub bolts 15 are covered up by the hub zone section of the main disk 12 but in the case of the preferred form of Figures 1 and 6 these hub bolts are exposed from the outside.

Thus the load of the entire wheel is borne by the hub zone flange 5 on the seats 9 and 11 and the bolts 20 hold the main disk 12 to this hub zone flange 5 and in a demounting change of tires only the bolts or screws 20 are released as the hub 'zone flange 5 is intended to be bolted on permanently to the :hub. At the region of the bolts 20 there is a is indicated The flange 18 of the main disk 12 is pressed tightly into the rim or the rim is shrunk on to it in the same manner that a felloe band is ut upon the felloeof a wooden wheel. wing to the shoulder 19 at the front the rim 1 may not be pressed off from the disk inward toward the vehicle and to prevent any possibility of the rim being pressed off outward from the vehicle I emboss a series of little indentations around the margin of the flange 18 and into the metal of the rim 1 as indicated by 28 and these indentations occur in about a dozen different places, depending on the wish of the manufacturer, around the circumference of the wheel and as they are of only short length the metal of the rim is swaged outward with a punch and the metal of the flange 18 swaged inward into the recess formed in the metal of the rim without effecting a puncture of the metal ofthe rim 1 itself. These operations may be done very quickly and thus a secure fastening of the disk into the rim obtained.

Instead of relying on the indentations 28 to hold the disk 12with its flange 18 in the rim 1 I may rivet those parts-together as is indicated by the rivets 29 in Figure 5 or in place of the rivets 29 I may spot weld through these parts as desired or I mayweld a little seam or a few spots along the edge of the flange 18 as indicated by 30 in Figure 5 or I may rely entirely upon the frictional contact between the rim and the flange 18 of the disk in the same-manner that iron tiresv or felloe bands are applied to wheels generally by pressing or shrinking them on as ma be desired.

7 n indentation 31 is made for a short distance in the marginal zone of the disk to facilitate access to the valve stem for the pneumatictube of the tire shown in dotted ines 33 in Figure 3. A hole 32 in the rim 1 and flange 18 of the main disk permits the entry of the valve stem 33 indicated by the dotted lines and a hole 34 in the main disk allows this valve stem to protrude for access from the outside, so that the air may be applied and the amount of this volume measured from the front face of the wheel.

In Figure 7 the main integral flange of the hub is at the front face of the wheel as is indicated by 35 and in this case the hub zone flange 5 is separated from the integral flange of the hub 35 by a filler or spreader ring 36 and in this construction there will always be used the hub zone of the main-disk 12 as 37 in order to cover up the void spaces 0 38 and 39 occasioned by using with this type of a hub a disk wheel instead of spokes, as the brake drum 40 must be supported in the normal way to accommodate the wooden spokeson any interchange work as this type of a wheel for the spokes of a woodenwheel on the same hubs. The hub bolts 41 here used are longer than the hub bolts 15 used with the other design. The

hub zone flange 5 is stiffened by a series of radial corrugations 42 which lie between the bolts 15, extend across the zone, and prevent its buckling where it is not directly held by the bolt heads.

Filler blocks 43 of sleeve-like form are shown as filling out the hub barrel diameter in Figure 2 and a similar ring indicated by 44 is shown in Figure 7. However, in some instances annular filler rings 43 and 44 will be omitted.

In this construction the hub zone flange 5 virtually carries the hub outward to a diameter sufficiently large to permit the main disk 12 to be made of considerably lighter metal,

as the fastening between the two disks is a -hub proper, so that but for appearance the main disk might terminate at the circle of the filler 26.

That main disk zone in which the bolts 20 lie is 'stifl'ened on each margin by the integral inclined portions 13, 14 so that the load on any bolt ;is partly transmitted to its neighbors, the zone being practically unyielding radially. The space 27 ensures accurate contact at 9 and 14 whether or not the parts are primarily fitted accurately.

WhatI claim is 1. In a wheel of the class described, a hub having a flange integral therewith, a hub zone flange bolted to the said hub flange and provided withinclined seats on the margin of the said hub zone flange; in combination with a main disk secured in demountable fashion to the margin of the hub zone flange and provided with inclined seats adapted to seat said disk main disk to the margin of the hub flange,

said main disk provided with a suitable tire carrying rim.

3.. The combination with a hub provided with an integral flange, of a hub zone flange secured to the flange first mentioned and having near its inner margin radial stiffening corrugations and near its outer margin annular inclined bearing seats, and a main disk secured to the hub zone flange in the region of the inclined bearing seats and provided with a suitable tire-carrying margin.

4. In a disk wheel of the class described, a

. hub, a tire carrying rim, a disk secured to the tire carrying rim and a hub zone disk secured to the hub, the said rim carrying disk and said hub zone disk j o-ined together in demountable fashion and at, the margin of the hub zone disk, the metal of the rim carrying disk being thinner than the metal of the hub zone carrying disk and the disks together ap-- from tothe rim region.

6. The combination with a hub and a rim, of a hub zone disk having near its periphery a lateral seat, a rim-carrylng dlsk fitting and detachably fixed to said seat, and extending inwardly from said seat to cover the body portion of the hub zone disk.

7 In a device of the class described, a rim, a disk forming the web of the wheel secured to the said rim by frictional engagement; in combination with a series of indentures-made in the rim and into which the metal of the disk is swaged.

" 8. The combination with a hub zone disk provided with spaced, inclined annular bearing areas on one face, of a rim-carrying disk laterally overlapping the hub zone disk, fitting said areas and spaced from the hub zone disk between said areas, and bolts passing through the disks between their contact-making areas and detachably binding the disks together.

Signed at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Il inois, this 13th day of June, 1921.

VVitnesses B. J. BERNHARD, F. M. ZOBEL. 

